Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves Saturday night at Lady Danville’s sold-out show at The Troubadour. There was an energy so uniform filling the room as people waited for Lady Danville to appear on stage, that it felt as if everyone knew each other. The stage was set with string lights, small sailboats, and a rug in front of the microphone that added to the “Home Sweet Home” feel that was kept throughout the entire show.

The first couple of songs had a low, calming energy and the energy built and built with each composition. One of my favorite moments of the night was when they did a cover of MGMT’s incredibly popular song, “Kids,” which I happened to enjoy much more than the original. Unlike a lot of other shows I have been to, this show wasn’t all about the lead singer. The drums were set in the center, in line with the guitar on the left and keyboards on the right. It was strange to me at first, but Lady Danville used this setup to their advantage.

Composed of three members from UCLA’s A Cappella group, each member of Lady Danville has an incredible voice. I was refreshed by this break from the usual mono vocalist groups, and their voices add a unique depth to all their songs. At one point, all three members shared one microphone and sang “I Want You Back” with just a harmonica and guitar.

The whole thing felt like a coffee shop show, rather than a show at a major music venue. The band told stories relating to their songs, and when lead vocalist/guitarist Dan Chang asked how many people spoke French, about half the room cheered. He then replied with, “I know that many of you do not speak French,” and continued to talk about the story behind their song “Sophie Roux.”

At the end of the night, Lady Danville left the crowd with one of my favorites, “Cars.” And as they sang “And I know/ You said/ I’ve always been a bit too sensitive for a man,” the fans were laughing, talking with each other, and being captivated by Lady Danville’s performance, clearly not wanting the night to end.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Monday night I had the pleasure of seeing Girl Talk at the Hollywood Palladium. Just in case any of the readers out there are anything like my sister, I’m not talking about the super awesome teenage girl game from the 90’s, though the Girl Talk I am writing about does bring back a different kind of nostalgia. Do you remember in high school when there was that amazing party thrown by one of your friends when their parents were out of town, your best friend was the DJ and it was one of the most epic nights of your teen life? I do, and Monday night Gregg Gillis took me right back to to that high school house party again.

With searing mash ups of the best and most classic songs, he can take you from Deep Purple to Biggie Smalls to Ke$ha to New Order in a span of two minutes. The entire crowd at The Palladium didn’t stop moving all night, sweat and smells be damned! It was as if all of the white people in the room had been practicing their whole lives to dance that night because truth is, they have. Last night was the night when every hipster, square, and business person put their inhibitions aside and showed the moves they had been practicing in their mirrors at home for years. (Don’t lie, I know I’m not the only one who does this.)

The bopping Gillis was flanked by two dozen happily dancing concert goers on stage. Dripping in sweat and shirtless he flowed on from “Every Day” to “On and On” and then to “Let it Out." As soon as John Lennon’s “Imagine” came in through the sound system the crowd went wild and every one sang in unison while multi-colored balloons fluttered down from the ceiling. Girl Talk is an experience, and though most excellent when jamming at home prepping for a night out, it’s on a whole other level when you’re surrounded by thousands of other bouncing bodies. You may have missed out on last nights show, but lucky for you Gillis will be making his rounds and find his way back to the Hollywood Palladium on the 26th. So don’t miss out, pay the $25 to take the time tunnel back to high school. It’s well worth it.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Here is a sample of things to come. On St. Patrick's Day we had some hip-hop, some funk and some electro at Lipstick 24 on 7th St, including platinum recording artist Miguel doing one of his hits, "Quickie," and rising electro hip-hopper Keith Masters doing his Futurecop! collabo "1988 Girls."

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Datarock is a band that had me at “she’s not that kind of a girl, booger!” For anyone not familiar with this awesome Norwegian electro-funk duo, that’s a line from their hit song “Computer Camp Love” off their aptly titled 2005 album Datarock Datarock.

So when I heard that they’d be in Echo Park promoting their new single (out March 21st) I jumped at the chance to go. I arrived at the Echoplex on a chilly Friday night to be greeted by their incredibly lovely tour manager, Tony.Datarock wasn’t scheduled to go on until 11:30p due to their four opening acts but Tony warned me that even still they were running a little behind. Since I can’t possibly rock out on an empty liver I headed to the bar and in the process was nearly run over by a little man in a red tracksuit. In my sober haze I didn’t realize it was old time band member Fredrik Saroe, and instead thought to myself, “that boy should really re-think his outfit”. Vodka soda in hand I made my way to the front of the room. At nearly midnight the red tracksuit clad members filled the stage and burst into none other than “Computer Camp Love." They followed this Revenge of the Nerds classic with “Sex Me Up," another great track off their Datarock Datarock album. Frontman Kjetil Møster then broke into a very admirable running man, backed by his crew, and segued into “Princess."

As fun as the show was, I was a little disappointed at the poor turnout. Kids were hanging by the bathrooms and couples were fawning over each other in the booths, but for such lively and danceable beats I expected to find a packed and sweaty dance floor. I then remembered when I first saw Matt & Kim about five years ago at what used to be one of my favorite L.A. haunts, Safari Sams. Standing before the then barely known duo in a sparsely filled room I recall thinking “they’re totally awesome! Why aren’t there more people here?” and “they should really re-think their name." I may have been wrong about the name part, but I wasn’t (and never will be) wrong about the musical deliciousness aspect. I guess it just takes some people a little longer to catch on, so I’m telling you this: catch on now if you haven’t already. Datarock is rad.

They finished up their set with a few newer tracks that I wasn’t familiar with. Upon first listen one of them sounded a lot like “Once in a Lifetime” by the Talking Heads. Moments later they introduced a song only released last year “True Stories”,the ultimate Talking Heads tribute anthem. Clearly being very big fans of the New Wave, post-punk movement, you’d expect their new “extravagant” single to be some sort of mash-up between the Talking Heads and their Datarock Datarock album, right? Well, it is. Mix Datarock with “Psycho Killer” and you’ve got “Catcher in the Rye” - a classic beat with catchy lyrics and totally worth a listen. By the end of the night I found myself telling people that Datarock was from Norwegia. Now, for those of you who excel in music but not in geography: Norway is a place. Norwegia? Not so much. That’s when I knew it was time to put down my drink and head home. Another good night of epic tunes down, countless more to go.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Local resident Travis Tatum Mills may not yet be on your radar, but that will probably change soon. And he might already be if you've heard of the artist T. Mills. The 21 year old hip-hop-R&B-electropunk hybrid phenom is already a force on the internet and, after seeing one of his performances, I can attest that he is one on stage as well.

The Riverside, CA child sites influences from Wu Tang Clan to Blink 182 to Bone Thugs N Harmony - to recent additions to his playlist like Rusko and Wiz Khalifa. Embracing his multitude of tastes, T. Mills has already reached to a multitude of markets. In 2010, T. Mills could be seen all over the place - from his release of the "Ready, Fire, Aim!" EP to Bamboozle to the Warped Tour tohis constantly growing online presence.

Earlier in 2011, I witnessed T. Mills headline and sell out an all ages show at The Troubadour. Not only were teenage girls grabbing for the pierced young hearthtrob's crotch on stage, they lined up to the edge of Doheny and Santa Monica at the end of the show screaming for a photo opportunity. Mind you, they'd been invited by the artist to do so after the show. He took the time to embrace each one of his fans willing to wait in the line while their parents waited outside to pick them up...

With plans to release a mixtape in April featuring production from J Hawk, Matt Squire, Colin Munroe, Hit Boy, The Stereotypes and more - T. Mills won't be resting anytime soon. Plus, with over 46,000 Facebook likers, where he happens to be giving away a free mp3 - http://www.facebook.com/ilovetmills?sk=app_4949752878 - almost 22,000 twitter followers http://twitter.com/#!/search/%40ilovetmills and over a million views on MySpace - his identity is going to keep penetrating the internet. With a swagger lick a rockstar for and songs like "Just My Luck" coming too - his hybrid-pop sounds will probably begin and keep penetrating your head too...

I have no idea who Courcy Magnus is - but I dig this simple video and the beat that has some dubstep like bass in it. Video is very lo-fi, which draws your attention back to the beat and the song. To fit the dirty topic - they went with a slightly dirrrrrty beat and BOOM - Dog Shit is my new shit. Is it yours?

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

One of the sleepers in this years summer festival fantasy draft was Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears. They seem to be popping up everyhwhere - starting with Jam Cruise, continuing on their own tour and then stopping at Coachella and going on to McDowell Mountain Music Festival, Summerfest, and hopefully more in promotion of their new album "Scandalous" which is due on March 15th.

Stumbled on this video from a recent @DanSena performance at Voyeur. The Dim Mak DJ/producer/beatsmith hooked up with Del Tha Funky Homosapien to propel music into the next realm of the future - good rappers over dubstep. The sound quality on this video isn't stellar, but you can tell there is some magic underneath this FlipCam capture.

Monday, March 7, 2011

I love, love, love Saint Motel. Not only are the quartet some of the coolest, nicest, most fun guys I've ever met - but their music is infectiously good. Everything off their first EP is delicious - including the original of "Dear Dictator."

In this video that song gets the treatment from Sam Sparro and Saint Motel's vocalist/guitarist AJ took on the role of director of the music video. I was actually on set for some of the shoot at the club formerly known as Cinespace and even have a very brief cameo (look for a green hat). Although they won't be performing the remix, you can almost count on the original or at least something off of the For Play EP down at SXSW.

Saint Motel are performing at a few different parties - but you'd be foolish to miss them at ours. They'll be in a headlining position and I have no doubts that they will rock the hell out of our stage at Lipstick 24 at 606 East 7th Street in Austin, TX on Wednesday March 16th.

Look for our eventbrite RSVP page soon - but for now, you can RSVP here.

With a video for "Slap Slap Slap Pound Up Down Slap" that is as fierce as their name, The Death Set, after watching you may get excited to go see their concert with The Gaslamp Killer on March 15th at Echoplex. Playing for March's 1st installment of the esteemed Check Yo Ponytail party - this trio will most likely b-r-i-n-g it.

With an affinity for tigers and being destructive, as well as a sound representing some combination of punk, hipster and a handsome slice of Beastie Boys "Sabotage" years - The Death Set are making some waves. You can cop tickets to the CYP2 show by clicking thru here. They are $12.

My favorite song off of his "Slurp & Giggle" release. So sad I missed his Monsters of Bass show at El Rey Theatre last week. This is glitch hop at its finest - raw, energetic, bassy and it makes you want to dance. Don't sleep on Opiuo....

You know that cool homie from Community? The one who has the steez and swagger of a hip-hop artist or an athlete. Well turns out he is the former and he has some hot tracks coming out on his EP tomorrow. Childish Gambino also just announced a full on tour in support of his album.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

I'm loving everything Toro Y Moi are touching right now - from "Still Sound" to this cut "Talamak." Too bad their show at The Troubadour in late March is already sold out....maybe I can get into Detroit Bar.

This is where you could catch them - hopefully they are coming to your hood.

The Head and the Heart, the six-piece pop-folk band from Seattle, WA, released their debut self-titled album in early January of this year. The sextet give a new feeling to the traditional pop-folk trend set by artists such as Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, and The Tallest Man on Earth. Unlike these other fold bands, however, The Head and the Heart’s debut packs a ton of energy behind the traditional folk sound, especially in the first two tracks on the album: “Cats and Dogs” and “Coeur d’Alene,” which transition into each other seamlessly.

And, of course, behind every great folk album are the lyrics. The Head and the Heart write many of their songs about traveling, friends, and the sheer beauty of nature, giving the album an authentic Americana feel that would have made Walt Whitman proud.

As much as you may have loved Fleet Foxes and the other aforementioned folk artists, The Head and the Heart have an incredible advantage over them with the infectious energy that they have accomplished with this album. The energetic piano and contrasting, prolonged “Ooh’s” and “Ahh’s” create a near-perfect balance, and contributes to much of the album’s substance.

Perhaps whats best about the Head and the Heart, though, is that every song is remarkably distinct. Songs like “Down in the Valley” portray the purity of their Americana-folk feel, while the changing tempos of “Sounds Like Hallelujah” vaguely reminds me of Queen’s famous “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Here is a video of them performing "Down In The Valley"...

The Head and the Heart is bound to appeal to faithful fans of the current folk trend, as well as fans of great alternative pop. And if they keep up the great sound found on their debut album, they very well may surpass folk artists like Fleet Foxes and Band of Horses in both fame and critical acclaim.